A member of the United States House of Representatives, Riley Moore, has said that United States military airstrikes carried out on Christmas Day helped prevent deadly attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria during the 2025 holiday season.
Moore, a Republican lawmaker representing the State of West Virginia in the United States Congress, made the statement on Saturday, December 27, 2025, through a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He contrasted the airstrikes with the mass killings that occurred during Christmas celebrations in Nigeria over the past two years.
According to Moore, Christians in Nigeria had suffered deadly attacks during previous Christmas periods, but the 2025 season saw a different response, with military action taken against extremist groups instead of another round of civilian bloodshed. Okay News reports that his comments have since drawn international attention due to their strong religious and security undertones.
“For the past two Christmases, Christians have been murdered in Nigeria. This year, thanks to @POTUS, Radical Islamic Terrorists were on the receiving end of 12 Tomahawk missiles as a present,” Moore wrote.
He further stated, “The successful strikes on ISIS, in coordination with the Nigerian government, are just the first step to secure the country and end the slaughter of our brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Earlier in the week, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that American military forces had carried out targeted airstrikes against Islamic State militants operating in Northwestern Nigeria. Trump made the disclosure on Thursday, December 25, 2025, using his Truth Social platform, where he vowed that further military action would follow if attacks on Christian communities continued.
The United States President said the Department of War conducted what he described as “numerous perfect strikes” against terrorist targets linked to the Islamic State group, a global extremist organization also known as ISIS, which has carried out violent attacks across parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
On Friday, December 26, 2025, Nigeria’s Federal Government confirmed that airstrikes had indeed taken place, acknowledging cooperation with international partners in addressing security threats posed by extremist groups in parts of the country.
Nigeria has witnessed repeated Christmas-related attacks in recent years. On Christmas Eve in 2023, at least 140 people were killed and several others declared missing after armed attackers launched coordinated assaults on remote villages in Plateau State, a region in central Nigeria known for long-standing communal and religious tensions.
Similarly, on Christmas Day in 2024, armed herdsmen attacked five predominantly Christian villages in Benue State, located in Nigeria’s North Central region, killing at least 33 people, according to multiple security and humanitarian reports.
The latest comments from United States officials highlight the growing international focus on Nigeria’s security crisis, particularly as it relates to religious violence and extremist insurgency.
